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Chapter 3: The Search for Greg Montez

Early in the morning Jack and Lucy Bolton made their way to the Albuquerque airport to go to Jacksonville, Florida. When they arrived in Jacksonville they rented a car to have at their disposal and made their way to the hotel that they were staying at downtown. Once they checked in they made their way to Episcopal, Gabby's school. They immediately went to Dean Philip's classroom, he was currently substituting for an A.P. U.S. class, incidentally, it was Christine's class, and the class that Gabby was supposed to be in. Jack Bolton opened the door and proceeded to the front of the room with Lucy trailing behind.

"Can I help you?" Mr. Philips asked amiably

"Jack Bolton, and this is my wife Lucy." Jack quickly responded. When Christine heard the name Bolton, she turned to the front of the room and began to listen in.

"Christine, come up here, I'm sure you'd like to meet the Bolton's." Mr. Philips called her forward.

"Hi. I'm Christine Taylor." The four talked quietly for a moment before heading to Stephen's physics class and Mr. Crandall's office. Once in Mr. Crandall's office the six sat down to discuss what to do about Gabriella.

"She's clearly been beaten." Lucy began, "There are bruises all over her body. We all took a walk on the beach, and the kids of course were in swimsuits, I could tell that she was a little uncomfortable, but none of us made any mention of it, which made her relax."

"She's terribly frightened that her dad will find her, has he filed a missing persons report yet." Jack asked

"No, that's the interesting thing. He's called her in sick, just like she's at home." Mr. Philips responded with a frown. After a moments debate the adults decided to make their way to the police station. Before heading down there Lucy put in a phone call to an old friend, Terrell Hogan, who graduated with her and is now an attorney practicing in Jacksonville. Mr. Hogan was free so he was more than willing to meet them at the station.

When everyone arrived they sat in the Sheriff's office with an officer that Lucy had also graduated with, Justin Willis. Justin, Terrell, Lucy, and Gabby's mom Isabella had all graduated from Lee High School together, and were known as the fearsome foursome. Once all seated Jack, Lucy, Mr. Philips, and Mr. Crandall began to tell their story. They showed the officers the notes and Christine and Stephen added in what they knew.

"Well, I think we need to pay a little visit to Mr. Montez, and see what he has to say." The sheriff said.

They all went to Mr. Montez's office, but he had not come in that day, so they made their way to his house. Unfortunately that too was empty. On a hunch Lucy said, "Albuquerque. He's in Albuquerque."

Jack immediately grabbed his cell phone and called the school. When they answered he said, "Transfer this call to the class my son is in now."

"What do you want Bolton? You're interrupting me in my chapel of the arts." Mrs. Darbus angrily yelled into the phone.

"Listen Darbus, I don't have time to deal with this. Give the phone to Troy NOW." Jack demanded

A little taken aback by Jack's phone Darbus said, "Troy. Your father would like to speak with you."

Troy walked to the front of the room and picked up the phone, "Dad?"

"Take Gabriella and go straight to the police station. I don't want you to leave. I want you to go back into the sheriff's office, or have them lock ya'll in a holding cell, or just keep ya'll out of sight. Understood. And no one tells anyone that you have Gabriella with you is that clear?"

"Yes dad, but what's going on? Is everything okay?" Troy tossed a worried glance at Gabriella, which made her pale slightly.

"Just go now, don't bother getting your books or checking out, just tell your friends not to mention that Gabriella is here. Okay. Look I gotta go. I'll call your cell phone when you can go home. Okay?"

"Yes dad, that's fine we're leaving now." The two men hung up and Troy went over to his friends, he motioned them outside, and quickly apologized to Mrs. Darbus, who was extremely perturbed.

"Look guys, if anyone comes asking for Ella, don't tell them that she's here okay? Do this for us." The gang looked slightly confused, but agreed knowing that this was important. After they went inside Troy ushered Ella to his car and headed off for the jail. During that time Jack had called the station in Albuquerque and with the help of the J.S.O (Jacksonville Sheriff's Office), Troy and Gabby would be kept out of sight. The police were also searching Albuquerque and the surrounding areas for signs of Greg Montez.

At 8:30 that night Troy and Gabby were still sitting in the lounge at the Police Station.

"So, you've been though a lot lately, I'm so sorry Ella." Troy said taking her small hand in his larger one can rubbing in comfortingly.

"It's okay. I'm just glad that I'm out of there and I hope that I never have to go back. The idea of being in the same state as my father scares me eno-" Ella suddenly went pale.

"Hello, my name is Greg Montez and I'm looking for my daughter Gabriella. Here's a picture of her. She ran away from our home in Jacksonville." The officer at the desk tensed at the name Montez. And at the same time Gabby began shaking violently in the lounge knowing that her father was just outside, he came looking for her.

"Troy…he's here. Oh g-d I'm so scared." She whispered. Troy quickly pulled Ella onto his lap and began to rock her whispering to her that it would be okay and that the police would take care of it.

The officer did as instructed, "She was reported missing by her high school apparently and the J.S.O. sent out an alarm since they couldn't get a hold of you. We've sent her back to Jacksonville with a police officer. Her plane took off an hour ago." Greg Montez was upset by EHS's actions but immediately put it aside and left the station to head back to airport to catch a flight home.

The police officer immediately put in a call to the J.S.O. saying that Greg Montez was heading back to Jacksonville and that he should be picked up at the airport. Meanwhile, Troy and Gabby were permitted to go back home accompanied by a police officer, who would be staying with them until things were settled and the J.S.O had a hold of Montez.

AN: I know it's short but I'm having a bit of writer's block with everything. Probably because my mind is in like a million different places right now. So I'm gonna try to get some homework accomplished now.

Mollie XOXO